


Modern-day Magic.

by OfWolvesAndDragons



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 10:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13339758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfWolvesAndDragons/pseuds/OfWolvesAndDragons
Summary: It’s 2018, the kingdoms within the United States are teetering on the brink of outright war and a prince caught in the middle is suddenly the keeper of a secret that might just turn the tide.





	Modern-day Magic.

**Author's Note:**

> January fic prompt for a friend who asked for a Chanbaek fic with a magical Baekhyun. It was supposed to be a drabble... Whoops.

The dragon egg is entirely Kai’s fault. Chanyeol slams the trunk of the car back down as soon as he spots it, hiding the golden scales from view. “Where the fuck did you _get_ this?” he hisses.

Kai laughs, leaning haphazardly across the roof of the Mercedes and likely scratching the paintwork in the process. “Jeez, it’s not real. Calm down. What did you think I’d done? Stolen it from a museum?”

Chanyeol turns suspicious eyes to Kyungsoo who is as always, ever-present at Kai’s side. “Is he telling the truth?”

Kyungsoo rather cleverly keeps his gaze firmly on the poppy-shaped fire opal pinned to Chanyeol’s lapel; the picture of perfect deference to someone of a higher status... or in this case, perfect cover. Chanyeol ducks his head, trying to meet the squire’s eyes but Kai pushes off the car and steps smoothly between them both. “You know I don’t pay him to talk.”

Just visible behind Kai’s shoulder Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. A hand sneaks out and Kai smoothly receives a solid pinch to one arm. Chanyeol’s mouth quirks up as Kai jumps a foot. “You’ve also never paid him to be respectful to you either.”

Kai snorts, turning and lightly scrubbing his hand over Kyungsoo’s bare head, perpetually clipped short to display his status. “It’s a damn good thing loyal manservants are hard to find.” The move is (and always as been) gently borne by Kyungsoo with an air of fond tolerance.

As for the harsh words that Kai’s spouted a million times over, the tone holds nothing but warmth and Chanyeol smiles at his friends despite the… object he’s still not sure is entirely legal presently sitting stashed in the back of his car. The car that Kai had borrowed only two hours before, promising to return with something he’d ordered.

“Was this what you went to get?”

“Yes. Perfect centerpiece for the party. Everyone’ll love it, the bride-to-be included.”

“We’ve been through this.” Chanyeol lets out a breath, looking beyond his tiny group out towards the rest of the university carpark. It’s nearly empty at this late hour of the afternoon, thank god. Only sparrows and small knots of students leaving the library, all too far away to notice the three men nestled in the furthest parking spot. “Stop calling it a party. It’s a formal meeting. Delegates and all.”

“Call it what you will,” Kai taps the back of his hand against Chanyeol’s chest as Kyungsoo rounds the back of the car and opens the boot again. “Come the end of it you’re getting engaged whether you like this girl or not. You don’t exactly have a lot of other options. Not to be dramatic, but-”

Kyungsoo lifts the gigantic egg out of the trunk and deposits in Chanyeol’s less than willing arms. He clutches the object, feeling the sharp scales scratch through his sweater as Kai levels him with a somber look.

“-if you don’t take the Night King of Oregon’s offer, California will be all but defenseless come the winter. You know the vamps in Nevada brokered that treaty with Arizona for a reason.”

“I know, I know.” Chanyeol mutters, miserable. “Because more darkness is _just_ what we need when facing down things that are at their most powerful after sundown.”

“They’re big kingdoms. If they truly want the war they keep badgering about, they’re going to push for it when our fleet is all but useless in the cold. Doesn’t take a tactical genius to figure that out.”

The scales have become pinpricks of pain up and down his forearms, the egg clutched far too tightly. Chanyeol forces his tensed arms to relax, releasing the pressure. It takes a conscious effort. “Just… stop going on about it please. I’ve heard that a thousand times over from my father already.”

A pained silence descends, heavy with the conversation that’s been retrodden by the three of them countless times since the union was proposed in the summer just gone; poked and prodded at and examined from all angles in the hopes of _any_ kind of loophole possible. Kai may faithfully try to make light of it but all of them know the answer by now and it burns like ice swallowed whole.

The roar of a motorbike kicks off as a student at the other end of the parking lot starts their journey home, a trio of fairies tucked safely into the black leather bag strapped to the back of the bike. By the colour of their wings they’re economics majors. Chanyeol looks away. Next to him Kyungsoo still looks helpless and sad at the whole stupid predicament and Chanyeol can’t say he blames him, not really.

It sucks big time to be forced into something you’ve never wanted. Sucks even harder when you’re of royal birth and the fate of what you were sworn to protect lies not in glorious battles like the tales of old, but in bureaucratic ribbons that twist into arranged marriages to broker safe allegiances through the coming years for a costal kingdom with nowhere to turn should the neighboring rulers grow ornery and ever more warmongering. Strength in huddling in large numbers. How utterly… uninspiring.

Chanyeol turns, the price tag on the stupid fake dragon’s egg slipping free from under one hand to flap in the wind. Figures. Where’s the old magic when you really need it?

~*~

The gates click open, swinging wide. Chanyeol rolls the steering wheel and pulls off Castle drive, slowly curving between the huge white structures as they part. The Mercedes grumbles, perpetually disappointed at not finding itself speeding along a freeway somewhere every time Chanyeol drops it below third gear. Hooking an arm out the rolled-down window he pats the gleaming side and then waves distractedly at the snipers in the tower as he passes, the retinal scanners at the entrance already having identified him as a member of the Park family and granted him access.

The floor of the expansive garage lowers the moment he rolls to a stop on it, sinking below ground. Each of the luxury cars that are housed down there has their stalls adorned with the vehicle’s name and without hesitation Chanyeol swings the car into the spot labelled _Inferno_. He cuts the engine and sits back, resting his head against the top of the seat.

_Get it together, Chanyeol. C’mon. It’s not the end of the world._

Yanking the keys from the ignition he grabs his sword from the passenger seat and steps out, sliding the heavy weapon into the scabbard on his belt as he makes his way around to the trunk.

The scaled monstrosity sits just where he left it, tucked into a makeshift nest fashioned from an old, rolled-up coat. Chanyeol reaches in and hauls the dragon egg out, propping it on one hip as he shuts the trunk lid. Pocketing the car keys he makes for the elevator.

The gleaming buttons for the above floors are each adorned with fire opals in the shape of the orange poppy motif identical to the one he always wears; both the state flower and for the past few hundred years the symbol of the last royal family of Los Angeles. Chanyeol punches the topmost floor and leans back against the gilded walls as the tiny space shudders and slides upwards.

Tonight. Seven in the evening. _Three hours away_. Such an innocuous time for the meeting to end all meetings. The kind of hour you should be settling down on the couch with a good movie or even eating a late dinner. Maybe with someone you cared for. Someone who shared the same space, was there to welcome you home with warm smiles and even warmer arms-

The floor dings its imminent arrival and Chanyeol snarls at himself, snapping out of the daydream. Because that’s all it was. All it will ever be. This girl -whoever she is- could be fine for all he knew. _Could be awful too,_ his mind supplies _._ This daughter of Oregon. The Night King’s child.

_Your future wife._

The door to his quarters smacks against the wall and Chanyeol catches the rebound as he strides through. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fucking fair. His reflection passes the mirror just as he does and that causes him to stop, backtracking. He looks like shit. Hair sticking up at all angles, disheveled, clutching the stupid overpriced paperweight. What an absolute joke.

The dragon egg is unceremoniously dumped on the table beside the crackling fireplace, coat and all. Chanyeol’s sword follows along with it’s scabbard belt and then his sweater and shirt. Presentable. He needs to be presentable. The King of California’s firstborn. Heir to the Park empire and tonight… the single last hope this kingdom has against the steadily uniting vampire clans to the east. And here he was spending his final evening before the official marital arrangement being given gag gifts by his friends in a desperate attempt to cheer him up.

Shirtless, he stomps to the ensuite bathroom and chases the pair of manservants there out with a wave of his hand. The sight of the folded, gem-adorned dark blue suit waiting beside the huge brass tub stops him dead in his tracks. Traditional uniform. Yeah, this whole thing was _definitely_ someone’s idea of the worst joke possible.

~*~

The banging on the kitchen door is loud, angry and belongs to one very pissed off King. Chanyeol flicks the heavy top latch on the wood before it can be forced open and backs up, scanning the shelves.

“So help me you get _back out here_ Chanyeol or I’m calling the guards. You can’t just embarrass the family like that.”

Chanyeol plucks a glass tumbler from amongst one of the many that dot the top shelf, ducking under a low-hanging rack of pots. Cook always keeps his stash of bourbon somewhere obvious…

“This is a _disgrace_. You’re being a child.”

The furious banging continues. Chanyeol finally tugs the bottle from behind a pile of recipe books and calls back over one shoulder.

“She’s a harpy! A card carrying, eagle-eyed, pretty sure there’s talons under that dress _harpy_ , father. I’m not marrying _that_.”

“You don’t have a choice! This is bigger than you, bigger than all of us. You _know_ that. Don’t be so goddamned selfish.”

“You know what they’re like _just_ as much as I do!” The bourbon sloshes like liquid gold into the tumbler. _Gold like dragon scales_. Chanyeol blinks and then downs the contents in one gulp, waving the empty glass behind himself in the direction of the bolted door. “I’ll figure something else out. I will. I just…” his voice drops. “I can’t do that.”

“Chanyeol…”

The tumbler is cool against his forehead. Holding it there also keeps his hand from shaking too badly. “I’m sorry, father. I really am.”

The cacophony outside finally ceases. There’s a faint thump like the King has placed a palm against the door and a heavy sigh. “Okay, stay there. I’ll go… see to the delegates. I’m sure I can calm them down.” There’s a pause and then Chanyeol hears a faint, “Ruffled feathers and all.”

It hurts to laugh, so Chanyeol settles for tucking himself into the far corner of the kitchen, sliding down the wall with the bottle and pulling his knees to his chest. The expensive blue suit crumples all to hell with the move and he couldn’t care in the least.

~*~

It’s a blessing the guard pixies have known him long enough that they don’t raise the alarm when he stumbles through the deserted corridors at an ungodly hour. They merely flit from tapestry to tapestry at a respectful distance, keeping an eye on him. Probably also to make sure he doesn’t pass out somewhere. _How loyal._

It takes him several attempts because the lock keeps swimming before his eyes but eventually Chanyeol tumbles through the door to his room, almost-empty bottle clutched in one hand. He’d given up on the glass somewhere after midnight.

God. A harpy. The moment he’d first been introduced her he’d known she wasn’t entirely human. Not that most of the royal families were entirely of human descent nowadays anyway, but something had been particularly strange about her _eyes_ …

Violent, cruel and quick to anger, harpies were long known for their particularly sadistic nature, even those who chose in the recent centuries to side with humans. Often employed by the military, their methods of torture were legendary.

The last of the bottle’s contents tastes foul as it slips over his tongue and Chanyeol grimaces. Goddammit, why couldn’t this arrangement have been simple? He’d have put up with almost anything to make this deal but something that horrible was beyond even his manners and obedience to the crown. Those things _specialize_ in pain and misery. His father was right; it’s entirely selfish but he _can’t_ …

And with that decision the last hope his kingdom has of an allegiance against the east dies. Chanyeol flings the bottle into the fire. Staggering with the move and all the booze in his blood he knocks into the table next to it, toppling the piece of furniture over. The ridiculous egg falls off, rolling into the hot grate that keeps the sparks from falling onto the hearth. Chanyeol ignores it, slumping into a heap on the carpet.

He needs to find another way. Some other plan. Anything. If the covens march on the south-eastern borders his father will have to respond. And the last time he led an army was before Chanyeol was even born. He’s too old now. If he rides out to face the vampires he’ll fall. Or be taken and turned. Chanyeol’s hands ball into fists. He can’t lose him. Not like that...

He’s not entirely sure if he passes out while thinking or not, but the fire is suddenly embers in the grate by the time Chanyeol notices the room again and from where he’s still sitting his head is starting to feel like he’s lost to Kai in a decent fistfight. But it’s not the pain that’s roused him. It’s the soft, insistent peeping sound from near the fireplace. Chanyeol squints.

The egg lies cracked, the side that’s still resting against the grate broken open. And inside looking immeasurably pleased with itself sits a tiny white and gold dragon. Chanyeol scrambles backwards, shoulders eventually colliding with the side of the bed.

“What the hell?”

At the sound of his voice the dragon perks up, peering in his direction. Clumsy little claw-tipped paws are put to work and the dragon tumbles itself out of the egg shell, padding over towards him.

Chanyeol climbs the bed.

The dragon reaches somewhere near the foot of the bed and Chanyeol can hear a sad-sounding warble from down there because he’s out of sight but _holy shit that’s a dragon_. A real live one. Not something in a museum. His head swims dangerously. _That’s not possible._

Wait. That… _is_ a dragon right? He’s not still passed out? This is too insane to be real. Dragons became extinct in his great-grandfather’s era. There’s not been a living one in centuries. What was _in_ that bottle of bourbon? Chanyeol scrubs his eyes and chances a look over the edge of the bed.

The dragon is chewing on a corner of the cover, mouthing at it experimentally. When it spots Chanyeol again though it drops the material and peeps up at him happily, stretching up on its hind legs to paw as high as it can reach. Slowly, ever so slowly, Chanyeol sits back and fumbles around in his suit jacket pocket for his cell phone.

Kai answers in the final ring. “It’s like three am, dude.”

Chanyeol ignores him. “Where the _fuck_ did you get that egg?”

There’s silence on the other end as Kai’s sleepy brain catches up. “Y’mean the dragon egg?”

“No the chicken egg. What the fuck else do you think I’m talking about?”

“Are you drunk?”

“I am. I was.” Chanyeol pinches the bridge of his nose. The corner of the cover where it tumbles over the edge of the bed is moving rhythmically again. “But it doesn’t matter. Where. Did. You. Get. The. Egg?”

A shuffle of bedsheets accompanies Kai’s words. “A trader. Came to the Uni a week ago but the campus pixies chased him off. He hung around for a bit outside the grounds though, had some cool stuff. Now,” he yawns. “Why the hell are you calling me to ask me this at ass o’clock in the morning?”

Chanyeol clutches the phone with still-inebriated fingers. “Because,” he hisses. “There’s a dragon in my room.”

“What are you talking about?”

“A live one. The real thing. Kai you know better than to buy shit from traveling traders. They’re half baked wizards at best and now I have a fucking dragon.”

There’s a long pause and when Kai speaks again his tone is deliberately gentle. “You’ve probably had a helluva night. And you’ve been drinking.”

“Kai,”

“So I’m going to talk to you about it in the morning-”

“ _Kai_. Listen to me.”

“-when you’re sober. And not hallucinating weird shit. You know better than to sneak any of your cook’s stash. He laces that stuff with his own home brew. Go to sleep. You can tell me all about it tomorrow.”

“No, wait I-”

“Goodnight Chanyeol.”

The line goes dead. Chanyeol squeezes the device until he can feel his fingers again. Taking a long breath he drops the phone on the bedside table and runs an unsteady hand through his hair. What the fuck was he supposed to do now?

The chewing of the covers has stopped completely. Chanyeol peers over the edge again. Left alone and ignored the dragon has curled itself into a forlorn little ball, nose to tail. As Chanyeol watches he can see it shivering faintly, the pearlescent scales along its hide trembling. His jaw clenches. These things were bred for the heat - _that_ much he remembers from his history lessons. Not to be left on a cold carpet in the middle of the night.

_This must be what going mad feels like._

Pulling a face at the wall Chanyeol swears and reaches down, curling a hand around the dragon and lifting it up gently. Scooting back on the bed he shoves a section of the covers down and deposits his sleepy handful just below his pillow. “You’re awfully heavy for a hallucination,” he tells the dragon, tugging the covers neatly back up over it and dropping down himself so the room stops spinning.

His tiny companion peeps drowsily as it adjusts to the warmth, blinking open eyes that Chanyeol can now see are startlingly blue. When it recognizes him again, he’s not an expert on draconian features but he swears the thing brightens up, shuffling along under the sheets until it’s almost next to him. Chanyeol places a fingertip on the miniature snout, stopping it.

“You’re pushing your luck there. Stay warm and go to sleep. I’ll… figure the rest out in the morning.”

The dragon mouths contentedly at his finger and Chanyeol sighs, hooking his other arm underneath his head. He’s going to be committed. No two ways about it.

~*~

Sunlight is streaming in through the thick curtains that like an idiot, he must have forgotten to close last night. Chanyeol scrunches his face, trying to will away the pounding headache that’s taken up residence behind his eyes. Perfect. If he just never opens them again maybe last night was all just a bad, bourbon-induced dream. Chanyeol rolls over, burying his head in the pillow. _What a ridiculous nightmar-_

A long line of warmth follows his movement, stretching along Chanyeol’s side. A sleep-heavy limb slings across his waist and what could only be a leg tucks itself between his own. Chanyeol freezes.

There was no way on this earth he was _that_ drunk last night.

Opening his eyes is a hell of an effort but Chanyeol pulls his head out of the pillow and cracks them. Just below his nose is a tuft of white-blonde hair. Oh. _Unhelpful_. Chanyeol cranes his head but the face belonging to that hair is tucked against his shoulder.

 _Well this could be awkward_. Chanyeol hasn’t had to stumble through the morning-after from a hookup in a while but at the very least he should have a _memory_ of what had happened the night before, surely? Or even an idea of who his partner had been. A name would have been handy. He’d certainly feel less like an asshole if he had that.

But… hang on. He’s still dressed. Blue formal attire from the- god, that dreadful failure of an engagement meeting last night. The harpy. The argument with his father. Which led to the pinching of the alcohol. Subsequently resulting in a drunken stumble about the mansion after midnight. And an overheated egg which then produced a-

Chanyeol rolls completely over, yanking himself out of the tangle of soft, sleepy limbs and into a sitting position against the headboard. That rouses his bedmate and he’s suddenly looking into a pair of very large, very blue eyes.

Oh. “Shit.”

They just so happen to belong to the most stunning boy Chanyeol had ever laid eyes on, which doesn’t help matters in the slightest because he then proceeds to sit up and _woah that’s a lot of bare skin_.

Chanyeol grabs a handful of sheets and quickly tosses them over the other boy’s lap and legs, wracking his brain for something to say when the move earns him only a confused head tilt. Eventually he manages, “Can you… uh, do you speak?”

The beautiful head silently tilts back the other way. Chanyeol groans, running a hand over his mouth. _Dragons were known to take human or elven form to communicate with the lesser races directly._ Only this one… He’s new. And there’s none of his kind left alive to teach him.

Hell.

A hand reaches out and soft fingers snag Chanyeol’s own where they rest against his jaw. With a tug the boy brings Chanyeol’s hand towards himself and examines the digits slowly as if they’re something fascinating. Chanyeol finds himself momentarily looking at the other’s face while he’s distracted.

His skin is almost luminescent and it’s only when he shifts slightly that Chanyeol recognizes the same pearlescent tint that belonged to the eggshell. A quick glance at his ears confirms they’re not pointed, so definitely human was the guise of choice. It’s the feel of a warm breath on his fingertips that pulls Chanyeol back to reality.

The boy has brought Chanyeol’s fingers to his lips and the jagged memory of the tiny dragon thoughtfully gnawing on those same digits causes him to yank his hand back. Another memory cracks open and Chanyeol presses his finger lightly onto the boy’s delicate nose.

“Stop that. Fingers are not teething devices.”

Blue eyes nearly cross trying to follow his finger’s placement and Chanyeol finds that far too adorable so he immediately drops his hand. This was absurd. Completely and utterly. He needs… he needs to talk to Kai. Before anyone else finds out he has a real live dragon currently entertaining itself by… Chanyeol eases back from where there’s suddenly a head placed back on the pillow by his hip as the other boy curls back down, dozing off in a succession of slow blinks.

Chanyeol extricates himself slowly and slips out of the bed, padding over to the ensuite. He needs a bath, several Tylenol and the biggest bottle of water he can find. Like yesterday.

By the time he returns damp, in street clothes and with a towel over his head the lump on the bed is considerably smaller. Chanyeol grabs his sword and clips the scabbard belt on, trying to see through the tangle of sheets. Finally a tiny gold and white tail gives the dragon’s position away. “Come on you sleepy impossibility. Rise and shine.”

Scrubbing his hair brusquely, Chanyeol drops the towel over the back of his desk chair and fetches a duffel bag from the closet, lining it with a pillow. As an afterthought he grabs the broken egg and wraps it in a sheet, tucking it down one end of the bag. As he does the price tag sticks up and curiosity makes him turn it over.

It’s not a price tag after all. It contains a word in cursive script.

 _Baekhyun_.

Chanyeol looks up. “Baekhyun?”

A tiny warble sounds from the lump of sheets. Okay then. Baekhyun it is.

“We’re going on a short trip.” Chanyeol walks over and wiggles a hand under the covers until he can lift the dragon up and plop it into the duffel bag, taking hold of the handles. “Please don’t set anything on fire while I’m driving.”

~*~

They make it to the University without incident and for that Chanyeol is eternally grateful. Grabbing the bag once he parks the Mercedes, he makes his way straight towards the library. Kai is nearly always tucked into a corner there between classes.

Thankfully no one gives him a second glance, although he does receive a suspicious twitch from a knot of fairies as he hauls open the door to the building, their wings momentarily changing colour as he barges past. They’re sensitive to magic so Chanyeol keeps his head down and grips the bag a little tighter. Thankfully Baekhyun doesn’t make a single sound.

He finds Kai nose-deep in a pile of textbooks. Without breaking stride Chanyeol walks past his table, hooks an arm through his and bodily drags him to the far end of the room and around a corner, dropping him into a different seat behind several shelves of dusty research tomes.

Kai tolerates this with the long-suffering air of a best friend. “I was reading that.”

Chanyeol places the open bag on the table and gestures at it. “Read this instead. Fascinating plot. Great title. Goes by Baekhyun.”

At his name the dragon’s head pops up and Kai nearly falls off the chair.

“What the fuck.”

“Pretty much my reaction too. _Now_ do you believe me?”

Kai leans forward again, looking into the bag’s innards. “You were telling the truth.”

Chanyeol crosses his arms. “Of course I was. Just who the hell _was_ this trader, Kai?”

“I don’t know.” His friend has the grace to look abashed. “Honestly. He only hung around for a couple of days trying to peddle his stuff. Half of it looked like he’d dug it out of a forest in the middle of Europe but it was interesting. And I thought the egg looked cool, like a replica.”

Chanyeol sighs. “Every egg in the world after the eighteen hundreds should be a replica. Or in a museum. So I can’t blame you, not really. Sorry I got angry last night.”

“No I… I totally get why now. It’s okay. I would have freaked out too.” Kai hooks a finger over the lip of the bag and Baekhyun pounces, pawing at it. “But now that it’s here-”

“He.”

“Sorry? He?” Kai slants him a look. “How do you tell that?” Chanyeol flushes and his friend sits up straighter. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He can feel his ears burning and drops his gaze. “How much do you remember from high school history?”

Kai looks thoughtful. “Dragons are highly familial until an older age, loyal to a fault, prefer warm climates, the oldest amongst them were probably wise enough to converse with what would pass for an astrophysicist in today’s terms…” He ticks off the lessons. “They fought on our side in the final lycanthrope uprising but were already dying out by the time early aviation came on the scene -I totally remember that phase where you wanted to be a dragon-rider when we were kids- and they passed out of living memory somewhere in our grandparents’ time. They had this habit of taking on a smaller guise to move amongst us when neede- holy shit he transformed on you?”

Chanyeol’s face must have given him away. “Yes. Last night.” 

“And it’s definitely a he.” 

The dirty scuffs on Chanyeol’s shoes are mighty interesting right now. “Yep.”

Kai’s voice sounds like he’s holding back laughter. “By that I’m guessing clothes didn’t come as part of the magic trick? They’re supposed to choose exceptionally attractive forms according to the few pictures we have you know-”

“Can we please get back on track?” He’s now seriously regretting starting this line of conversation.

A snort finally escapes Kai. “Okay, okay so aside from the hot naked guy in your room last night, he’s still a dragon and what are you going to do about it?”

“I… don’t know. Tell my father for a start. He has a right to know if there’s something this powerful and dangerous in his kingdom. I just…” Chanyeol trails off, watching Baekhyun still chasing the tip of Kai’s finger like a cat as it trails back and forth along the bag. “He’s the last of his kind. I don’t want him carted off to a military base to be weaponized or stuffed into some kind of laboratory to be poked and prodded for the rest of his life.”

Kai sobers. “Yeah, what goes into either of those has a habit of not coming back out.”

“Pretty much. We need to find out more before we decide. This place has to have history or zoology texts somewhere, right?”

Kai pushes off the table. “You never paid attention during classes at all, did you? I’ll go grab them.”

Chanyeol pulls out a chair of his own as Kai disappears into the shelves. Baekhyun watches the move and then plonks his head on the lip of the bag, blinking thoughtfully up at him. Without thinking Chanyeol reaches out a hand and pats him.

Tiny teeth latch gently onto his knuckle. Chanyeol sighs.

Half an hour later Kai returns with Kyungsoo in tow, both of them toting armfuls of supplies; Kai with books, Kyungsoo with three brown bags worth of McDonalds.

They settle down to work.

~*~

Afternoon slants the shadows across the table by the time Chanyeol turns the pages of the last thick tome, pressing a knuckle into one eye. “Kyungsoo, are you feeding my dragon a quarter pounder?”

Kyungsoo releases the piece of greasy meat as it’s tugged from his hand. “It’s cow,” he replies quietly. “We don’t have a herd for him to swoop in and snatch one from so this is it.”

Chanyeol… actually can’t fault that one.

Kai distractedly upends his bag with one hand for any last fries, eyes on his zoology diagram. “You need to feed him Chanyeol. And be ready once you do, he’s going to start growing.”

Chanyeol groans. “How big _does_ his species get? Those green ridgebacks from South Africa used to only be the size of ponies.”

Kai swings the book in front of him around, pointing to the coloured diagram next to a few descriptive sketches of different hides. “No such luck. White gold were the second largest, next to the classic red.”

Chanyeol scans the page, shock and awe settling in. “They were castle-scalers.”

Kyungsoo is still feeding Baekhyun chunks of his cold beef patty. “Will he be able to fly?”

Chanyeol skims down the page. “Fifty foot wingspan at full extension. Jesus. I’d say that’s a yes.”

Kai turns serious eyes to him. “You won’t be able to keep him hidden for much longer unless he stays in human form.”

“About that,” Kyungsoo opens his hands to show Baekhyun he has no more food left. It earns him a disappointed chirp. “How does he work it? What makes him change?”

Chanyeol swallows. “Warmth, I think. Proximity maybe?”

Kai’s mouth quirks up. “To what? You?”

Chanyeol hits him with his balled-up wrapper. “I have no idea. You said they had a strong pack mentality. Maybe he needs to feel safe. I have no clue. He doesn’t talk.”

“He will.” Kyungsoo intones as Baekhyun darts out of the bag after the wrapper as it bounces past him along the table. “All the dragons of old spoke the languages native to their regions.”

Baekhyun catches the wrapper, pouncing on it. Shreds of oily paper start to fly. Chanyeol watches the move thoughtfully. “I hope so. I’d really like his opinion on what happens to him.” The image of Baekhyun tucked unashamedly against him this morning like Chanyeol was a safe haven lingers. “Because it’s-”

“Be right there!” A loud voice gives the student away before he rounds the corner, calling back to his friends. “Just a sec.”

Kai immediately snatches up his empty McDonalds bag, turns it over and plonks it over the top of Baekhyun. The student dashes in and stops, startled to find anyone back here. “Oh. Sorry.” He squeezes around behind Kyungsoo, angling for a high shelf. “Just came for the last volume on mermaid rights.” Kyungsoo silently angles his chair out of the way.

The paper bag inches slowly across the desk. Chanyeol snags a corner and drags it back towards himself.

After what feels like an eternity the student finally locates the tome he needs and excuses himself, hurrying out after his friends. Kai slumps back into his chair.

“That was too close. You need to take your boyfriend home.”

Chanyeol flips him off.

~*~

Dragons as it turns out, love water. They also can’t swim. Which is how Chanyeol finds the only moment of peace he’s managed to acquire all day broken by a white and gold cannonball that careens into his bathtub. And promptly sinks.

He panics when Baekhyun doesn’t resurface after a few moments, forgetting the fact that hello, _he’s buck naked here,_ digging around in the water frantically until he snags the slippery bundle. Which then feels like it bursts under his hands, but that’s actually the water displacement because suddenly there’s two fully grown bodies in the tub.

Chanyeol finds himself nose to nose with Baekhyun who sits there soaking wet, water falling from his blonde hair and dragging it down over his eyes. With a sigh Chanyeol pushes it back off his face. “You’re a gigantic hazard to have around, you know that? You could have died.”

Baekhyun smiles. “But I didn’t.”

Chanyeol’s yelp is completely undignified.

“You _can_ talk!”

Baekhyun looks mildly proud of himself. “I can now.”

“What do you mean?”

Baekhyun lifts a handful of the water and watches the bubbles on it run through his fingers. “I learned today.”

“ _How?_ From what?”

“From listening. You all talked a great deal.”

He’s sure the face he pulls is all kinds of incredulous. “You learned English in one day? From listening to my friends and I talk?”

Baekhyun nods, pleased. “It’s a relatively crude method of communication.”

Kyungsoo’s warning of how quickly dragons picked up languages rings in his head. Chanyeol nods slowly, realizing belatedly that Baekhyun has fished around and picked up his hand. It makes him not think before he speaks.

“What’s with you and hands?”

“They’re interesting.” Baekhyun replies as if that explains everything. “But I like yours. They’re quite large.”

Chanyeol almost bites through his tongue not to automatically quip with the first thing that crosses his mind about size. “Uh,” he manages after a moment, swallowing twice before he can even get that out. Baekhyun twists their wet hands back and forth, pressing their palms together and he can finally see the difference between the slender fingers and his own. “Okay?”

Baekhyun hums, linking their fingers and _fuck his life, he’s holding hands with a dragon_. In his bathtub. Stark naked. Chanyeol goes to drop his head back against the rim of the tub but that move shifts them both and suddenly he’s aware they Baekhyun is practically in his lap and of everything _else_ that’s touching. He freezes.

Baekhyun seems totally unperturbed by the absurdity of this entire situation and slides backwards towards the other end of the large tub, drawn by the bottles of multicolored liquid on the side. Chanyeol immediately makes himself as small a ball as he can, which considering his height is a contortion task of epic proportions. _Be respectful of the immensely powerful creature, Chanyeol. Even if he is…_ Chanyeol reaches out and plucks the loofah from Baekhyun’s grip before he can tear it apart. _Troublesome_.

Baekhyun immediately picks up a bottle in place of the loofah and unless Chanyeol is willing to take every plaything off him and relocate it to his side of the bath, he makes a decision to let him have it. “So,” he hedges. “How much did you understand of what was being talked about today?”

Baekhyun’s blue eyes become abruptly very serious and it changes his whole face. Makes him look beautiful and dangerous all in one go. For the first time like something that walks in the shadows of mountains. Chanyeol forgets to breathe until Baekhyun answers.

“I am neither a weapon or a lab rat.” He takes a breath, hesitating. “But I am… alone. The last.”

Something small breaks off Chanyeol’s heart. “I’m sorry. It must be incredibly confusing.”

Baekhyun shrugs, finally tiring of his exploration of the bath’s amenities. “It is what it is. I can’t change the past. Even if I should have remained there.”

“I wish I knew why you didn’t.” Chanyeol replies quietly, at a loss for anything else to say. “And why you’re here now.”

Baekhyun sinks slightly lower in the warm water, up to his shoulders. “If the temperatures where I originated dropped low enough, I might have been forced into a form of hibernation.” He shrugs, looking lost. “But I don’t know for sure.”

“Kai thinks you could have belonged somewhere in Europe.”

Baekhyun nods. “The trader. I heard.”

Seeing him so sad generates a clench in Chanyeol’s chest. He reaches out, flicking a few bubbles at the dragon. “You may be a long way from home and I can’t change that, but you’re not alone.”

Baekhyun finally looks him in the eye again. “You can’t mean that.”

Chanyeol huffs. “Why not? I kept you from freezing to death last night _and_ from drowning right now. By my count that’s twice I could have let you go.”

“Noted…” Baekhyun’s eyes narrow. “Can I sleep next to you again tonight?”

“No.”

He ends up in the bed. 

~*~

It’s promptly discovered that Baekhyun’s appetite is something phenomenal. Chanyeol sends for enough breakfast to feed a small army and apologetically shoves the manservants back out the moment the platters are delivered.

“We’re discussing clothes.” Chanyeol says as Baekhyun sits bolt upright at the smell of food, covers tumbling away. He brings the trays over to the bed one by one. “Because this isn’t going to work for much longer.”

“So many technicalities.” Baekhyun replies distractedly, eyeing off the selection of meats, fruit and bread. He takes one sniff of the coffee and the horrified face he pulls is suddenly worth the lack of personal space Chanyeol has put up with for the last couple of days. He laughs, unable to help it.

“It’s an acquired taste.”

Baekhyun gives him flat eyes above a chicken leg he’s started sinking his teeth into instead. “I eat anything with four legs or less. That stuff is disgusting.”

Chanyeol shrugs cheerfully, clambering up and settling himself on the bed beside Baekhyun. “Your loss.”

He’s met with a shrug right back. “Those beans contain a stimulant.” The picked-clean bone is set aside and another is picked up. “You don’t want to caffeinate a dragon.”

“Ah.” Yes that could be… problematic. Chanyeol concedes that point. Baekhyun meanwhile cleans most of the huge platters methodically, climbing around and over Chanyeol to reach the furthest edges. Chanyeol patiently keeps flicking the sheets over his lower half until Baekhyun grows frustrated with constantly being tucked in and snags Chanyeol’s hand with one of his own, pinning it with an air of satisfaction.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything?”

Chanyeol looks down at the small section fruit and coffee he’s been sticking to. “This is enough for me.”

Baekhyun makes one of his humans-are-strange noises and hooks a bare leg comfortably over Chanyeol’s, fishing out one of the remaining cold cuts. Chanyeol smiles faintly against the rim of his cup.  

Sometime after, by the time his first company-free bath is over and he returns to the room he nearly trips over his own feet. 

“God dammit get _off_ the bed if you’re growing that much. You’ll break it.”

Baekhyun levels him with a frustrated look, draconic features able to convey annoyance at not being a foot tall in this form any longer _very_ well.

 _Guess Kai’s warning about him growing was accurate._ Chanyeol moves to the ensuite closet and starts digging through it. “Now I know why I was allowed to bathe in peace. You couldn’t fit into the tub.”

When he returns Baekhyun has removed his now five foot tall self off the bed and curled his new, sleek bulk up as best he can in front of the fireplace. Chanyeol drops the clothes and underwear he’s holding across one golden wing as he squeezes past. “These won’t fit the best but I’m taking you shopping so you can get your own stuff. You can’t hide in here much longer if you’re going to rival a horse for space.”

Shuffling sounds ensue and Chanyeol keeps his back turned, unplugging his phone from its charger and fiddling with it for longer than necessary to give Baekhyun some privacy. When he turns back around Baekhyun has all but finished; Chanyeol’s far larger set of sweatpants hanging… yikes, dangerously low on his hips and borrowed dress shirt draped across his shoulders, still unbuttoned. He looks up at Chanyeol as he comes over.

“I’ll need to stay in human form for longer periods of time now but it won’t be easy. The larger the mass I’m going to have to displace as time passes, the more effort and energy it’ll take.”

Chanyeol reaches out and gently takes hold of the sides of the shirt, drawing them together from the bottom and sliding the first button home, careful not to brush the skin below. “You’re talking to me about the laws of physics but you’re not able to dress yourself?”

Baekhyun grins, delicate face looking down at Chanyeol’s hands as they move upwards, slowly concealing his stomach and abs, then finally his chest behind the material. “Buttons are complicated,” he deadpans, flicking his eyes up. “I like the help.”

Chanyeol fumbles the last button and has to bite his lip to keep from snickering. “The history books never explained that you’d be such a little shit. Lift your foot onto a chair so I can roll these cuffs up.”

Baekhyun looks ever so pleased with himself.

~*~

Chanyeol is sure this entire outing is designed to test his sanity. Baekhyun falls in love with bacon and leather pants. The former he’s allowed to keep, the latter Chanyeol plucks out of his armful of clothes and puts back on the rack. “Not happening.”

Baekhyun looks back at the items as he’s steered towards the changing rooms. “I don’t see why not.”

Chanyeol glances around when they reach the collection of doors, opening one and pushing Baekhyun inside. “There’s enough leather on you when you _don’t_ look like this,” he hisses, closing the door. “Now just try the rest on and I’ll wait here.”

Baekhyun’s voice floats out. “How are you supposed to tell if they’re suitable from out there?”

Chanyeol leans a shoulder against the wall. “If you can’t figure out how to open a door I’m rescinding my opinion on your famed intelligence.”

The door does in fact open a moment later, his loaned shirt smacks him in the face and before Chanyeol can react a hand latches onto his collar and drags him inside. Baekhyun pushes him into a corner. “You’re an impractical race.”

Chanyeol laughs, dragging the shirt away and hanging it neatly on one of the wall hooks. “Just make this quick. I’m not explaining to you how this is going to look to any staff who find us. We’ll get thrown out.”

Baekhyun turns away but Chanyeol catches the look on his face in the mirror as he does and comes to the realization that he… might not have to explain it after all. In fact he’s pretty sure Baekhyun knows _exactly_ what this would look like. And is entertained by it. Cheeky little shit.

Chanyeol makes a singular point of politely staring at his phone while Baekhyun changes, glancing up to give a yes or no opinion on most of the outfits, but to be honest the guy is a clothes horse and most of the stuff suits just fine.

They’re down to the last outfit swap when there’s a polite knock at the door. Chanyeol narrowly avoids dropping his phone.

“Sir is everything okay in there? The sizes all correct? I can get you another selection if you’d like.”

Chanyeol pockets his phone and shoots a look at Baekhyun who has foregone the shirt he was about to put on and turned to the door. _Surely he’s not…_ But yep, there he goes.

Baekhyun’s hand is almost on the handle when Chanyeol snags his arm, yanking him away from the door. Baekhyun overbalances. His back collides with Chanyeol’s chest and nearly knocks the wind out of them both. Immediately Chanyeol holds him still and slaps a hand over Baekhyun’s mouth, raising his voice.

“No thanks. Everything is… fine.”

Baekhyun is laughing silently, warm breath puffing against Chanyeol’s fingers. He can _feel_ the menace’s shoulders trembling. Chanyeol lowers his head until his mouth is by Baekhyun’s ear as the footsteps recede.

“I’m trading you in for a unicorn at the pet store, so help me god.”

Baekhyun has gone lax in his grip, still sniggering to himself when Chanyeol realizes that his other arm is wrapped around Baekhyun’s bare waist, palm tucked neatly above the latest pair of new jeans. He releases both hands immediately but Baekhyun stays where he is, leaning against Chanyeol’s chest. His head lolls back and from upside down his beautiful, smiling face is ridiculously close. Chanyeol draws his bottom lip into his mouth.

Baekhyun’s eyes follow the movement and his features make that stunning shift into dangerously focused again. He’s close enough that if Chanyeol were to lean down just a fraction-

The phone in his pocket shatters the silence, ringtone blaring. Baekhyun takes a step away as Chanyeol tugs the stupid thing out. The absence of warmth from the other’s body heat is something Chanyeol refuses to think about. The caller I.D. is Kai.

“What’s up?”

“Have you seen the headlines in the last hour?”

“No, why?”

“Just a heads up then. Police found an abandoned nest about halfway between San Diego and here. Looks recent.”

Chanyeol frowns as Baekhyun picks out his choices nearby. “How recent?”

“They seem to think a day or so old. The cops were following up on two missing persons reports from that city. Both the bodies were inside.”

“That’s travel rations. They’ll be on the move.”

“Just thought you ought to know. If it’s a scouting party they’ll be sniffing around now that word will have got out about the diplomatic arrangement falling through.”

“Thank you. I’ll check in with my father and his council.”

“Okay.” There’s a pause. “How’s your new best friend going?”

Chanyeol holds out an arm for Baekhyun to place his pile of clothes over. “Walking, talking and probably clocking in at the average base weight of a draft horse.”

Baekhyun waves silently in the direction of the phone. Kai whistles low. “You’re feeding him then I take it. Remember the zoology tomes were specific: he’s not going to conform to the rules of biology; there’s old magic at work here too. He’s going to get very big, very fast. Have you told the King yet?”

Chanyeol winces. “Not… yet. But I’m going to have to soon.”

“Yeah you are. Especially if these scouting parties are preceding anything resembling a larger attack.”

“I know.” In a wriggle of pearl-tinted skin, Baekhyun shimmies out of the last pair of jeans and back into Chanyeol’s hand-me-downs. Of all the stylish fashion he’s watched him try on today, seeing Baekhyun back in Chanyeol’s own clothes now makes his chest feel soft. “There’s a lot at stake now.”

“Good luck.”

Kai hangs up and Baekhyun, hearing better than a fucking bat, immediately asks, “A nest of what?”

Chanyeol holds the pile of new clothes that smell like Baekhyun a fraction tighter. “Vampires.”

~*~

By the time they lever the armfuls of shopping bags into the back of the Mercedes a while later, Baekhyun is looking vaguely uncomfortable. Chanyeol closes the trunk and moves around to the driver’s side. “You okay? Still hungry? We can stop somewhere on the way home.”

Baekhyun shakes his head, crossing to the passenger side and opening the door. “No,” he mutters. “I don’t think it’s that. I just… how long has it been since we left the house?”

Chanyeol slides in and buckles up. “Six hours maybe? Why?”

Baekhyun is far slower to get into the car. “It’s been harder to hold this form today than I anticipated. I’m not feeling so great but if we go back I might have already outgrown your room. I don’t want to damage anything.”

Chanyeol pauses in the act of starting the car. “Did you want to go somewhere else?” He tries to come up with a location from memory that might be secluded enough to use. “I can try seeing if-”

“No,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “I’m going to need a bit of help if I’m to keep doing this. Do you have anyone you trust? Someone versed in magic?”

Chanyeol turns the engine on. “Only one person.”

~*~

It’s just before closing time by the time they pull up at the building. Chanyeol parks and points out the entrance. “He should still be in. Good.”

Baekhyun reads the sign as they walk in. “Is a chemist a modern word for sorcerer?”

Chen looks up from where he’s clearing the till. “Sorry, you have the wrong-” and falls silent when he sees Chanyeol. The black cat sitting next to him on the corner of the bench darts off in a swish of tail.

“Hey,” Chanyeol flips the sign on the door behind them as they enter to read ‘CLOSED’. “Have a moment?”

Chen looks at the sign and back to Chanyeol. “Apparently I do. What’s up?”

Baekhyun walks the long way around the length of the shelves towards the counter. Chanyeol lets him explore. “Is anyone else here?”

“No, I sent the cashier girls home about an hour ago.” Chen lifts the till case from it’s holder and places it on the bench. “Why? What do you need?”

Baekhyun rounds the other side and joins them. “A sorcerer.”

Chen’s face falls flat and he aims an exasperated look at Chanyeol. “You know I hate that slang term.”

Baekhyun radiates confusion. Chanyeol leans a hand on the counter. “We need your help. You’re the only one who might be able to pull this off.”

Chen sighs. “Nothing… illegal.”

“No, of course not. Just powerful.”

Chen narrows his eyes. “How powerful?”

A pink quill silently floats past under Baekhyun’s nose. “Old magic.”

“Friend of yours?” Chen asks and gives the quill a curious look, reaching out to swat it away. It returns stubbornly a moment later. Baekhyun smiles and lets it bob against his outstretched palm.

Chanyeol nods. “I don’t really have time to explain but if you call Kai later he’ll fill you in; tell him I came to you. But we need a suppression draught. Something that could historically knock out a dragon.”

Chen snorts. “Yeah right. You’re not seriou-“

The quills from out the back of the drugstore have all floated out and are now hovering around Baekhyun, sensitive like the fairies at the university to other magic. Chen falls silent for a moment, then. “May I?”

Chanyeol nods and Chen reaches out a hand, placing it gently on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Baekhyun turns slowly and stares at the other man, surrounded on all sides by the multicolored cloud of quills. Chen’s own magic reads him within milliseconds and stumbles back, clutching his hand as if burned. “You’re…”

Chanyeol makes a shushing noise. “Yes. Exactly. And he needs our help to keep hold of this form. Can you make anything?”

Chen reins his shocked look into something thoughtful. “I… may have something here I can modify with a few big enchantments. Wait here?”

Chanyeol nods, settling down into a nearby uncomfortable plastic chair to wait. Baekhyun, accompanied by his floating armada wanders off towards the section of health food bars. Chanyeol drifts, exhausted.

His eyes blink open when Chen reappears at his elbow, backlit now by the streetlights outside and waving a stoppered vial of something noxious-smelling and faintly… glittery. Chanyeol takes it from his friend gingerly. “Thank you, more than I can say. How long will this much last?”

“He only needs a small dose each day. Ten milligrams or so. Taken orally with food.”

“Yeah that won’t be a problem. He eats half a tonne a day already.”

Baekhyun’s blonde hair is visible meandering amongst the shelves. Chen shakes his head. “A real live dragon. I’d ask where you found him but I expect it’s a bit of a long story.”

Chanyeol pushes off the chair. “Not as long as you think. Or as epic as you’re hoping. But,” Chanyeol smiles softly. “I’m glad he’s here.”

The black cat reappears, leaping onto the countertop. It meows once and Chen nods, giving it a scratch behind one ear. “Midnight says he’s in the isle with the condoms and lube.”

Chanyeol swears, digging in his back pocket for his wallet. He removes enough cash to cover the trail of empty bars and candy wrappers he can see making a trail around the drugstore. “I’ll take him home. Thanks again for the potion. I owe you big time.”

“Yeah you do.” Chen smiles. “And you’re welcome.”

Chanyeol rounds the end of the isle and spots Baekhyun. Walking up he plucks the multicolored boxes from his hands. “Not food so I’m not paying for it.”

Baekhyun scowls. “I was just looking.” He retrieves one that Chanyeol has literally just placed back on the shelf. “The studs are… embedded into the rubber?”

Chanyeol snatches it back for the second time. “I’m introducing you to google when we get home.”

At the mention of the mansion Baekhyun seems to quieten down, nodding. “It’ll be good to rest,” he admits, looking more tired than he’s allowed himself to show for most of the day.

“We’ll get Chen’s draught into you and then it won’t be so much of a struggle to hold forms.” Chanyeol turns him with a gentle hand to the shoulder. “That’s one thing made easier at least.”

Baekhyun yawns. “Sleeping beside you helps.”

Chanyeol can feel his ears going rapidly red. “Yeah, about that.” He wants to kick himself with every word but he stumbles on. “We should probably look at getting you your own-”

A hail of bullets cracking the shopfront glass windows cuts through the night air.

Chanyeol shoves Baekhyun to the ground, dropping down beside him. Looking up he expects the sound of shattering panes to follow but sees only a spiderweb of cracks emanating from the bullet indents. He twists around. “You installed _bulletproof glass?_ ”

Chen ducks into the isle, keeping low and crouching beside them. “I hang around you, don’t I?”

Chanyeol tries to see past the multitude of cracks in the strengthened pane but only blurry movement outside is visible. Baekhyun squirms beside him and Chanyeol lays a gentle hand on his back, keeping him down. “Stay put. I don’t know-”

A woman’s voice slices through the silence. “We just want to talk, princeling.”

Chanyeol shares a glance with Chen. Twisting around he presses Baekhyun towards his friend. “Change of plans. Take him out the back way. Don’t be seen. I’ll buy you both some time.”

“What?” Baekhyun writhes in Chanyeol’s grip. “No! I’m not going anywhere. Who is that?”

Chen takes hold of Baekhyun by the crook of one arm. “My bike is out the back.” He levels Chanyeol with a serious look. “You have five minutes.”

Baekhyun throws a frantic glance between them both as Chen starts to tug him away. The woman’s singsong voice calls out again.

“We’re waiting, child.”

Apparently having enough Baekhyun very abruptly digs his heels in, hauling back against Chen and all of a sudden the other man is going nowhere. Baekhyun faces Chanyeol down. “I deserve answers.”

Chanyeol winces. “I’ll tell you everything but they can’t find you, okay? I’m not letting that happen. They’re likely just here for me.” Darting forward before he can overthink it Chanyeol leans his forehead against Baekhyun’s, one hand cupping the back of his skull, sinking into fluffy hair. “Just trust me, please? Go. I’ll catch up.”

Baekhyun’s eyes slip closed. Chanyeol can feel the movement as he nods. Relief washes though him. “Good. Now go. Follow Chen.”

He stands as Chen tugs Baekhyun with him behind the shelving and out towards the rear exit, Baekhyun looking back over his shoulder the whole time. The open worry in his eyes hurts more than anything else. Chanyeol turns and makes for the front entrance.

The glass on the door is also damaged so Chanyeol hauls it open, the owner of the voice becoming visible as he steps outside.

She’s leaning back against his car, one boot hooked against the door which instantly sets Chanyeol’s teeth on edge, clad head to foot in black leather. A quick scan of the Mercedes reveals a tiny silver dagger in each of the two visible tires and a distinct lack of reflection in the door window. An uzi dangles from one manicured hand. When she spots him the vampire smiles.

“So I hear things aren’t going well with the would-be municipals?”  

Chanyeol draws his sword. “Word travels fast.”

“My sire just wanted to be sure. He thought it prudent that we pay you a visit; find out if that wretch of a harpy was making a stab at the crown here.”

Chanyeol pulls his shoulder back, the weapon swinging up past his face. “None of that is any of your concern but you setting foot onto this land _is_ very much mine. You know the punishment for trespassing.”

The vampire tisks, her foot dropping away. “Come now, you don’t think we’d reveal ourselves _just_ to give you our heartfelt congratulations on single-handedly leaving your kingdom defenseless, did you?”

Something in her voice claws at Chanyeol and he frowns. “You’ve been tailing me?”

The vampire grins, eye teeth flashing. “Tailing _both_ of you, princeling.” She places her hand on one hip, cocking her head to the side and pitching her voice just a little higher. “How _do_ those clothes fit?”

Chanyeol’s blood runs cold. The woman from earlier that he assumed was a shop assistant. If the scouting party had been following them all day then they’d definitely seen Baekhyun.

A shadow flickers in his peripheral vision. Another one blurs behind the car. Chanyeol counts at least four, maybe more. “What do you want?”

“Originally? Our instructions were just to observe and report. But now,” the woman scents the air, licking her lips. “I think you have a weapon my sire doesn’t know about. Something ancient beyond reckoning. I can smell it. He wants to know what it is.”

 _Of course_. Vampires share a hive mind with their bloodline. That link could be invoked at any time for the sire to see what their children were looking at. Chanyeol smiles thinly. “I’ll take your head off before I tell you.”

“Ah, see I thought you’d be uncooperative like that.” The vampire sighs. “But even that antiquated heirloom in your hand isn’t enough to stop every bullet.”

Tongues of flame sweep up the sword blade, engulfing it in fire. Chanyeol cocks his head. “Try me.”

The woman rolls her eyes. “You’re assuming I’ll play fair. Always a mistake.”

The shadows coalesce. Five other vampires step into existence. Chanyeol tries to keep them all in his vision but they fade in and out, moving too fast to track. He brings both hands to his blade, shifting left then right. The female vampire grins, fangs on full display. “Now either you give us that weapon I can smell or I’ll mail you back to your father. In pieces.”

A deep feline growl sounds from the shop doorway behind Chanyeol. Chen steps out, electric blue runes flickering to life around his hands. “How about we even those odds a little?”

Beside him stalks Midnight, the panther familiar now at full size and reaching above both the men’s waists. Chen ignites his incantation and the runes run down his wrists, sparking into lightning in his hands. Chanyeol glances to him and Chen shrugs, “Your five minutes were up.”

Chanyeol grins. The woman shrieks and raises the automatic weapon in her grip. Two of the vampires smoke out and then back in again, aiming to take down Chen first. Midnight immediately leaps at them, passing through one and catching the other, pinning it. Chen hurls a handful of his ball lightning but the creature vanishes before it connects.

The female vampire fires, a hail of bullets spinning out. Chanyeol lunges to the side and swings his sword in a downward curve in front of Chen, the enchanted fire trail it leaves catching the projectiles and incinerating them. One of the vampires materializes, grabbing for his neck and Chanyeol ducks, bringing his blade back in a sharp arc and catching the vampire’s arm before it can disappear completely. With a howl it loses the limb.

Chen flings lightning left and right, aiming to anticipate where the vampires will smoke in again. He catches one that appears above Midnight in a botched attempt to slit the cat’s throat and the vampire explodes into a fountain of foul-smelling ash. The female lead hisses at them.

Chanyeol pushes away from Chen, closes the distance and swings at her. She vanishes, laughing at him. Reappearing on the other side of the car she fires again. Parrying, Chanyeol catches every bullet except the last one that sheers too close to his shoulder, slicing through. Blood billows out from the cut, staining his shirt. Furious and in pain he swaps hands and vaults across the hood of the car, swinging again as he clears the other side. The vampire jumps back. Another takes her place, darting in and out so fast he can’t keep track. It teleports behind him onto the hood and he feels a sudden hand in his hair, wrenching his head black. A blade appears at his throat.

Midnight tears around the car and leaps for the woman. She sidesteps in a flash of shadows and another vampire smokes in, landing a direct hit with one of his daggers, sinking it into the giant cat’s side. Midnight yowls. Twisting, he swipes at the vampire in the single moment that the creature takes too long before dispersing, huge claws landing a hit and rupturing the vampire clean in half. Ash covers the black fur.

Chen slams his lightning-filled palm against the face of one of the vampires that have attempted to grab him, incinerating skin and bone below. Ash crumbles and he flings himself around the car, skidding to a stop.

The female lead raises her gun, barrel pressed against Chanyeol’s forehead. “Now, let me ask again. Where is the weapon?” The blade at Chanyeol’s throat tightens, the other clawed hand in his hair keeping him tipped off balance and making it feel like he’s about to have his scalp torn off.

Chen makes a motion with one hand, drawing a glyph in the air. More electric blue runes flash around his wrists, altering and re-powering the spell. Thunder rumbles overhead.  “I’ll strike you down with a bolt if you so much as _think_ about pulling that trigger.”

The woman curls her lip. “That may be so but your magic isn’t faster than a calibrated semi-automatic. He still dies with me.”

Midnight circles the group, growling. The vampire behind Chanyeol speaks for the first time. “Standoff it is then.”

“No.” The female lead pulls the bolt back on the side of the uzi, pressing it harder into Chanyeol’s forehead. “Because I’ll only ask one more time. The _weapon_.”

A crack sounds overhead and everything falls into shadow. From behind the building an immense shape tears up into the darkness and a set of wings snap open against the night sky, blocking out the moon.

The knife drops from Chanyeol’s throat, the arm attached to it going lax in shock. Immediately Chanyeol reaches behind himself and hauls the vampire over his shoulder, slamming it into the asphalt and bringing his sword down just under the chin, sheering right through. He looks up.

Baekhyun pulls his wings in against his body and dives. Chanyeol grabs Chen and braces himself. When Baekhyun hits the ground in front of the store it’s with the force of a landmine going off. Planting his massive claws into the cement he rounds on everyone, opens his jaws and roars, the sound deafening. The remaining three vampires all immediately dissipate in horror but… Chanyeol squints. He can still see them. _What the…_

Baekhyun can too and he lunges, huge teeth closing over one of the vampires beside the car. _His magic is overriding theirs,_ Chanyeol realizes finally. Baekhyun tears the ones he can reach into pieces and Chen darts to his huge side as the second last vampire attempts to smoke in close enough to try and slice open some of the dragon’s tendons. His runes flash.

The cloud overhead breaks open and a single lightning bolt shoots down, pinpoint perfect. The vampire disintegrates. Chanyeol whirls on the female as she recovers from her own shock and he can make out her outline inside the glamour they all use, just as broken by Baekhyun. She raises her weapon and he grabs for it.

The spray of bullets flares wide, cracking across Baekhyun’s hide. He roars, swinging around. Chanyeol wrestles to bring her arm down and finds a clear angle with his sword, shoving her back against the car window and pressing it close to her neck, just short of pushing the enchanted flames into her skin. She freezes, teeth bared.

“Fine. Take a good look then.” Chanyeol breathes, panting. “Show your sire.” He brings the sword closer to her throat, the flames just starting to blacken her skin. Baekhyun stalks closer, bringing his huge head down, growling like an awoken earthquake. The faint rivulets of blood on his hide from her bullets turns Chanyeol’s anger into overdrive. He shoves her harder into the paintwork. “ _Show_ him what now awaits any of the kingdoms that are thinking of invading my father’s lands.”

The vampire’s pupils flicker red, invoking the bloodline and Baekhyun brings one eye down to stare directly into the link, snarling the whole time. The vampire visibly trembles. Chanyeol brings his face close enough to whisper into her ear, knowing those on the other end who would hear; the clans and their sires plotting war.

“Hear me and listen well. As heir to the Californian throne, firstborn of my line and keeper of the kingdom I say this: you march on my lands and I swear on my father’s sword I will destroy you and everything you hold dear. This is my promise to you and all who follow.”

Leaning back, Chanyeol shoves the blade the last fraction of the way and decapitates the vampire where she stands. She crumbles.

Chen moves straight to Midnight, crouching and pulling out the dagger still embedded in the panther’s side. Free from having to hold up in the face of an enemy the great cat slumps and as Chanyeol watches, shrinks in a cloud of sparkling runes.  Chen stands, the now-normal sized feline in his arms. Looking up at Baekhyun he sighs. “I told you to stay hidden.”

Baekhyun shakes his head, huffing indignantly. Chanyeol dampens the enchantment on the blade and sheathes his sword carefully. When he looks up again there’s only a slender, bare figure occupying all the space that the dragon had filled a moment ago.

Baekhyun brings a hand to his bloodied side and buckles.

~*~

Hospitals are haunted places; full of flickering hallways reeking of pain, thinly coated with an overlay of sterilized hope. Chanyeol paces the empty emergency waiting room, a thick bandage around his damaged shoulder and a cup of coffee half-forgotten in one hand.

“Well that’s certainly an improvement on the cook’s bourbon.”

Chanyeol turns. His father closes the door behind himself and crosses the length of the waiting room, weaving between the collection of ugly green chairs. His cloak floats to a stop around his boots as he reaches Chanyeol.

“Father before you say anything, I _promise_ I was going to tell yo-”

The king draws him into a hug, heavy arms wrapping around Chanyeol’s shoulders. “Do you think I give a damn about a _secret_?” He squeezes Chanyeol roughly. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Chanyeol grips his father tight. When the King pulls back his eyes are serious with concern. “How is he?”

Chanyeol drops his gaze. “The surgery would have finished over an hour ago but they said the anesthetic might take a little longer to wear off on account of mixing it with a dose of Chen’s potion to ensure he didn’t accidentally go scaly mid-operation.”

His father nods. “I came over the moment I was debriefed. The council tells me he saved your life.”

“He and Chen.” Chanyeol elaborates. “He’s at the vets with Midnight right now. The scouting party was larger than expected. I was… stupid to try to engage them alone.”

A door clicks open behind them. His father smiles. “You did what you believed was right to protect your friends. No dishonor _or_ stupidity lies in that.”

A doctor approaches and drops into a brief bow at the sight of the King, peering between them both and finally settling on Chanyeol. “Sir? Master Baekhyun is awake and stable. He was asking for you.”

Relief shoots through Chanyeol’s limbs so fast he almost crushes the cup in his hand. The doctor relays the room number and Chanyeol thanks him. “I’ll be right there.”

He drops the cup into the nearest bin and turns back to his father, suddenly unsure. “Did you want to… I mean, uh-”

The King waves. “I can wait. I have plenty of questions for the boy and he’ll need to be stronger to answer them.”

Chanyeol goes to turn but a gloved hand on his wrist stops him. His father reaches up and unclasps the pin holding his cloak together. He folds the material neatly over one arm and holds out the fire opal, dropping it into Chanyeol’s palm. He smiles, eyes crinkling up. “Tell him I say hello.”

Chanyeol looks down at the poppy-shaped gem and closes his fingers over it, swallowing around the lump in his throat. He manages a faint nod.

~*~

Baekhyun’s eyes are closed when Chanyeol enters the room, a single intravenous line trailing under the covers from the stand next to the bed. In the watery pre-dawn light from the window he looks so small lying there, the bandages around his midsection seeming to take up all of his torso. The bullets had missed everything vital but the rearrangement of organs during the transformation had moved them dangerously deep and he would still need a couple of days before any of the doctors even thought about discharging him.

 _But he’s here. He’s alive._ It takes a couple of goes but Chanyeol finally makes his legs move again, crossing over to the white bed. Baekhyun doesn’t register his presence having already slipped back to sleep, snoring faintly. _When he might not have been…_

Reaching out Chanyeol hesitates, fingers hovering over the single delicate hand that rests on top of the sheets. After a moment though he clenches his fist and drops his hand, sinking into the tiny chair that sits beside the bed. The doctor said Baekhyun had been awake just before but if he wasn’t still, Chanyeol wasn’t going to disturb him. Better that he get the rest.

What would he say anyway? Too many words tumble around in his rattled mind, mixing together into sentences that are highly inappropriate like _I felt my heart stop when I thought I’d lost you tonight, you fearless, crazy, impossible thing._

So… no. Just to be here was enough, to listen to the faint breaths and equipment beeps that represented a steady heartbeat and rest his incredibly tired head on the covers on crossed arms, finally able to calm down knowing the danger was for the moment, gone.

Chanyeol wakes a while later to the feel of fingers in his hair. They thread through the strands, lifting and dropping them back only to start over again. He turns his head on his crossed arms, looking up the length of the limb.

Baekhyun smiles fondly, letting his hand drop away. “You look so peaceful when you sleep.”

Chanyeol yawns. “Is this where I find out you watch me during the night?”

Baekhyun bites his lips and Chanyeol is too surprised to do anything more than chuckle, pushing himself up into a sitting position. His back cracks. “It’s good to see you awake.” The words are the ones he’s supposed to say and that’ll have to suffice. It’s surprisingly harder than he thought to stop there.

Baekhyun’s head lolls on the pillow. “It wasn’t the same.”

“What wasn’t?”

“Sleeping here. Alone.”

Ah. Chanyeol swallows, remembering the topic he’d been about to broach before the attack. “It’s uh, it’s probably not going to be that bad,” he fumbles, running a hand though his hair. “You’ll- I’m sure you’ll get used to it.”

Baekhyun’s head cocks to one side and the thought that if tonight had gone wrong he might never have seen that gesture again... “What do you mean?”

Chanyeol sighs. It wasn’t supposed to hurt quite this much, but he can’t hold onto Baekhyun as hard as he wants to now that his existence is known by others. “I mean sleeping alone. Without me. We… it’s going to raise questions when you get out of here if you keep staying in my room.”

He’s greeted with a long blink. “Where else would I stay? You’re everything I have.”

Chanyeol’s chest squeezes, nearly cutting off his oxygen. “You’re… you’ll be able to meet everyone else now. Other people. Not just my friends. Everyone is going to want to see you and talk to you and you’re going to be the centre of attention for a very long time and…” he’s aware he’s rambling now, but it’s vital that Baekhyun knows he has his freedom, that as much as Chanyeol may be growing attached, there’s a whole world out there besides him and-

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, props himself up on one elbow and reaches out, yanking Chanyeol in with a firm grip on his bloodstained collar.

“I don’t want everyone else,” he states firmly. “I want you.”

Baekhyun kisses him there on the bed, fiercely and with a quiet kind of urgency that Chanyeol thought only lay hidden under his own skin. He grips Baekhyun gently, mindful of his wounds, both hands going to his jaw as he kisses him back. Something that had cracked inside him mends in that moment.

Baekhyun huffs a faint laugh when they part. “Please don’t do anything as foolish as tonight ever again.”

“It goes both ways, I hope you know that.” Chanyeol leans back a fraction, thumb brushing back and forth against Baekhyun’s cheek. “But thank you. You saved my life.”

Baekhyun smiles and shakes his head like Chanyeol is the dimmest child he’s ever met. “It’s my part in all this to protect you. I’ll be by your side in every fight from now on, don’t you even think of trying to stop me.” At Chanyeol’s stunned, confused look Baekhyun places a finger on Chanyeol’s nose. “Dragons partner for life.”

Chanyeol swallows wrong and chokes, coughing. “You’re serious?”

Baekhyun yawns, nodding. “Check your history books if you don’t believe me,” he replies teasingly. Shuffling over he raises the sheets and motions to the empty space.

Chanyeol looks at the thin bed. “No way are we both going to fit.”

Baekhyun’s eyes are soft. “We’ll make it work. C’mon.”

Chanyeol takes a breath and stands, kicking off his boots. Leaving them beside the bed he sits down and swings his legs in, bending his knees the moment he feels his feet hit the end of the frame. Baekhyun patiently rearranges him so he ends up lying down on his side facing him, curled up so Baekhyun can fit his legs over and between Chanyeol’s own.

It’s warm and strangely safe and as Chanyeol watches Baekhyun carefully arrange his I.V line so it doesn’t get tangled, he’s reminded of the very first time he woke up to see the blonde head against his shoulder. Tucked into his pocket the fire opal pin digs into his hip and Chanyeol wiggles a hand down until he can retrieve it.

Baekhyun looks contented with himself as he finally settles, tucking himself tightly against Chanyeol. Seeing his clenched hand though, Baekhyun gives it a quizzical look. “What’s that?”

Chanyeol unfolds his fingers, revealing the crafted royal insignia. It catches the light as he angles his hand to show Baekhyun. “A welcome. And a promise of sorts. It’s from my father. Anyone bearing this jewel is to be afforded the same status as any other member of the royal family. No one will be allowed to take you away to study you against your will or shove you into a small room to try and turn you into a weapon.”

Baekhyun takes it slowly, inspecting the small sculpted flower with great seriousness. Finally he attaches it to the top of the hospital gown that drapes open across his shoulders and gives Chanyeol a squeeze. “Thank you. This means the world. I’ll… talk to your father as soon as he’ll see me.”

Chanyeol smiles, settling down finally. “He’s looking forward to it. I think there’ll be a great many questions from him _and_ his council in the coming days. But they won’t mean you any harm.”

He’d make sure of that. If nothing else from now on, Chanyeol would ensure Baekhyun’s autonomy; that no general or scientist or politician would touch him. With force if necessary.

“You’re thinking too loudly.”

Chanyeol pulls himself out of his revere. “Do _not_ tell me you can read minds.”

Baekhyun’s snort is quiet. “You’re restless. I can feel it.”

Chanyeol lays a hand in Baekhyun’s hair. “Just… I don’t know. Good things don’t have a habit of happening in my experience.”

Baekhyun’s lips press against his neck, ghosting above the wounded shoulder. His voice is full of mischief. “Must be magic.”

Eyes drifting closed, Chanyeol smiles.

~*~

They wake up to three huge bouquets of flowers from his friends, an absolutely gigantic helium balloon in the shape of a cartoon dragon and a collection of multicolored condom boxes in a drugstore plastic bag. Chanyeol drags Baekhyun’s eager hand back under the blankets the moment he spots them.

“Not until you’re healed.”

Baekhyun bites him gently on the collarbone.

~*~


End file.
